Protected's recent activity
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Comment on What is your dream game? in ~games
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Comment on What is your pet peeve with language acquisition? in ~humanities.languages
Protected Link ParentI'm working harder than I once used to in order to try to get to a point where I can jump into learning from reading books in Japanese (worked great for English after all), but it has been way...I'm working harder than I once used to in order to try to get to a point where I can jump into learning from reading books in Japanese (worked great for English after all), but it has been way harder than for a western language. I did not feel like I knew enough yet after Genki I - even kids' books still seemed very impenetrable with vocabulary, kanji and especially verb conjugations and constructs I hadn't learned yet. So I don't think of it as spending "too much" time (even though it is a lot of time), but a necessary evil for bootstrapping one's knowledge such that I don't have to translate word by word from a dictionary and even when I do, I know what to look up.
Tangentially, if anyone here is looking for a Genki II study group we're just getting started, so let me know if you'd like to give it a try; we have at least one spot open. You would have less than 1 lesson to catch up with.
Here are the requirements for applicants
- Ready to start immediately, with Genki I or equivalent knowledge (you can look up the curriculum online). It's basically level 1 knowledge.
- You will need the books but you can be in pdf if you like.
- Must join the discord and participate in a two hour long session for group work early on sundays (european-friendly time). We expect all participants to be serious about this, hang in there, and rarely miss a session; and if you do, try to alert us well in advance.
- Must commit to doing and checking the homework on your own every week (1/3 lesson, total 36 weeks). This will take a few hours of your time every week.
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Comment on EU turns to Norway and Canada for space launch sites – space commissioner is touring potential locations for launchers as the bloc tries to boost its satellite capabilities in ~space
Protected LinkI was going to say that it's weird to choose Norway when it's as far from the equator as you can get but the article goes into it. The Azores are a weird choice too. They are mostly small, steep...I was going to say that it's weird to choose Norway when it's as far from the equator as you can get but the article goes into it.
The Azores are a weird choice too. They are mostly small, steep volcanic islands. On most of them there isn't even room for an airport...
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Comment on What is your pet peeve with language acquisition? in ~humanities.languages
Protected Link ParentWow, I was going to write about the counters but you already did. That is my pet peeve. Stupid counters and weird readings for ordinals. I can't seem to get them down and I've been at it for years.Wow, I was going to write about the counters but you already did. That is my pet peeve. Stupid counters and weird readings for ordinals. I can't seem to get them down and I've been at it for years.
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Comment on VR questions, recommendations, tips, and tricks in ~games
Protected Link ParentIn Beat Saber specifically, a well designed level is a choreography. I always recommend playing curated/ranked community levels (ranked levels have to be manually approved by a team of experienced...In Beat Saber specifically, a well designed level is a choreography. I always recommend playing curated/ranked community levels (ranked levels have to be manually approved by a team of experienced players) with a good upvote/downvote ratio, rather than the game's native tracks - at least for much of the history of the game, the included levels were decent at best.
New players may be unaware that, with all modifiers off, the angle of your swing when you slice through a block does not matter. All you really need for the cut to count is to enter the block from the correct side (as per the arrow), meaning the angle is extremely permissive and you can play in your own way. Instead, scoring depends mainly on two things:
- Big swings! This is most of the score awarded to each cut. You want a big swing before and after the cut.
- Closest distance your saber reaches to the center of the note (how close to cutting the note perfectly in any two halves). This is the main accuracy factor, however it's only worth up to 15 points contrasted with the swing's 100 points.
Certain modifiers and certain map designs may demand greater accuracy (and very high level players may seek these out for the higher maximum scores), but both of those things can be avoided and players can still have a lot of fun.
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Comment on Kakao Entertainment to shut down Tapas webtoon platform in ~comics
Protected LinkI've never been able to read anything on Tapas over a long period of time because I always hated the UX there and the monetization tends to be too aggressive for my wallet. That said, it seems...I've never been able to read anything on Tapas over a long period of time because I always hated the UX there and the monetization tends to be too aggressive for my wallet. That said, it seems unfortunate for any creators that were relying on it. I hope alternatives arise.
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Comment on Wikipedia's list of the best video games: how many have you played, and what's missing? in ~games
Protected LinkFun exercise. I have played 128 of these games at least a little (completion or engagement not guaranteed), the list of which I bring to you through the magic of regular expressions (it didn't...Fun exercise. I have played 128 of these games at least a little (completion or engagement not guaranteed), the list of which I bring to you through the magic of regular expressions (it didn't take long!):
"Wikipedia's Best Video Games" that I have played
- Age of Empires
- Age of Empires II
- Angry Birds
- Arkanoid
- Asteroids
- Beyond Good & Evil
- Braid
- Bubble Bobble
- Castlevania
- Chrono Trigger
- Civilization II
- Command & Conquer
- Command & Conquer: Red Alert
- Contra
- Counter-Strike
- Day of the Tentacle
- Daytona USA
- Diablo II
- Divinity: Original Sin II
- Donkey Kong
- Donkey Kong Country
- Double Dragon
- Duke Nukem 3D
- Dune II
- EarthBound
- Final Fantasy IV
- Final Fantasy IX
- Final Fantasy VI
- Final Fantasy VII
- Final Fantasy VIII
- Final Fantasy X
- Frogger
- Grand Theft Auto
- Grim Fandango
- Hades
- Half-Life
- Hearthstone
- Hollow Knight
- Ico
- Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis
- Inside
- Kingdom Hearts
- Lemmings
- Life Is Strange
- Limbo
- LittleBigPlanet
- Lode Runner
- Mario Kart 8
- Mega Man 2
- Metal Gear Solid
- Micro Machines
- Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
- Minecraft
- Missile Command
- Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge
- Mortal Kombat
- Mortal Kombat II
- Ms. Pac-Man
- Myst
- Nights into Dreams
- Outer Wilds
- Overwatch
- Pac-Man
- Panzer Dragoon Saga
- Papers, Please
- PaRappa the Rapper
- Pitfall!
- Plants vs. Zombies
- Pong
- Portal
- Portal 2
- Prince of Persia
- Psychonauts
- Quake
- Rocket League
- Sam & Max Hit the Road
- Secret of Mana
- Sega Rally Championship
- Shovel Knight
- Sid Meier's Pirates!
- SimCity
- SimCity 2000
- Sonic the Hedgehog
- Sonic the Hedgehog 2
- Soulcalibur
- Space Invaders
- Star Fox
- Stardew Valley
- Street Fighter II
- Super Mario Bros.
- Super Mario Bros. 3
- Super Mario Kart
- Super Mario World
- Super Meat Boy
- Super Smash Bros. Brawl
- Super Smash Bros. Melee
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Tekken 3
- Tetris
- The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
- The Legend of Zelda
- The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
- The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- The Oregon Trail
- The Secret of Monkey Island
- The Sims
- The Stanley Parable
- The Witness
- Theme Park
- Tomb Raider
- Undertale
- Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness
- Wolfenstein 3D
- Worms
In addition, these are the games I've watched others play so thoroughly, or otherwise so memorably, that because of that I wouldn't want/need to play them myself (anymore):
I'm good thanks
- Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- God of War (Dad of Boy)
- Katamari Damacy
- Kingdom Hearts II
- Persona 5
- Return of the Obra Dinn
- Shenmue
- Xenogears
The above list excludes a lot of games I saw my brothers play, saw at GDQ, etc. that I don't feel I've paid sufficient attention to or could otherwise stand to play.
However, it seems to me that wikipedia's list isn't really a list of the "best" videogames as such, but of videogames that earned the love of the mainstream. Often that happened because they were quite good, but the list seems highly biased in favor of highly antecipated sequels (that didn't bomb), games that went viral, etc. There are many games missing, at least according to my preferences, and there are many games there I just don't want to play because they hold no appeal to me.
As a bonus, Spelunky is in my Steam library explicitly for a day when I need to play something while waiting for a game/sale/don't want to pay for something new right there and then, so I'm sitting on it on purpose.
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Comment on There's a new "Google Jail" for independent wikis in ~tech
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 19: Japanorama | Trailer in ~hobbies
Protected Link ParentClick to expand spoiler. That early episode made me groan out loud. Adam and Tom have no easy challenges and get a steal. They've realized their opponents were making a play involving speeding...Click to expand spoiler.
That early episode made me groan out loud.
Adam and Tom have no easy challenges and get a steal. They've realized their opponents were making a play involving speeding through multiple prefectures. So what do they do?
Obviously they steal to try to get a skip and disrupt their opponents' playHoard the steal and take a one way trip to the mountains one hour away of course...It's exactly what I previously wrote I was afraid would happen!
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 19: Japanorama | Trailer in ~hobbies
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Comment on I want an RPG with reverse leveling in ~games
Protected LinkIn Pyre, Click to expand spoiler. Every time the Nightwings win the Rites of Liberation you get to send one of your characters out of the Downside. This is narratively a good thing as they are...In Pyre,
Click to expand spoiler.
Every time the Nightwings win the Rites of Liberation you get to send one of your characters out of the Downside. This is narratively a good thing as they are freed from the cycle and ascend back to the Commonwealth, but you're also deprived of their skills henceforth.
I think that kind of solution is more interesting than just "reversing the numbers" on an RPG, and in this case the design of the game very explicitly solves several of the issues you mention.
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Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentHmm. Mine's AMD too, so it's not that... It feels like the kind of thing I'd want to figure out the reason for before one day it starts happening to me :D When it comes to Windows, it's probably...Hmm. Mine's AMD too, so it's not that... It feels like the kind of thing I'd want to figure out the reason for before one day it starts happening to me :D
When it comes to Windows, it's probably relevant that I rarely turn off my computer so it can be on for weeks (I did restart Firefox regularly though, most notably every time I went into VR because the thing is a memory hog in the long run and Windows is bad at managing memory). I suspect the times it crashed were when it had been open for a very long time doing heavy stuff but I never measured it.
Here's my current list of enabled extensions:
Firefox Extensions
- Cookie Quick Manager
- Disable Page Visibility API
- Disable Twitch extensions
- Don't track me Google
- Greasemonkey
- KeepassXC-Browser (On Windows it was: Kee)
- Privacy Badger
- Redirect AMP to HTML
- SponsorBlock
- Storage Saver
- Tampermonkey (I know, I shouldn't have two of these...)
- Tildes ReExtended
- Twitch Adblock (no longer distributed, still the best!)
- Twitch Channel Points Auto Clicker
- uBlock Origin
- User-Agent Switcher
- VRCVideoCacher Cookies Exporter
- YouTube NonStop (I have no idea if this is still necessary)
In the past I've also had dev extensions for React, Vue, etc. but I think I did some culling a year or two ago.
How is your list of extensions? Does anything stand out that is not on this list?
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Comment on What games have you been playing, and what's your opinion on them? in ~games
Protected LinkI've been playing Shadow Generations this week. A friend gave me a code for Sonic x Shadow Generations on Steam that he didn't want (not the same friend who gifted me High on Life - people have...I've been playing Shadow Generations this week. A friend gave me a code for Sonic x Shadow Generations on Steam that he didn't want (not the same friend who gifted me High on Life - people have been really generous this year!)
It's a competent platformer with polished 3D visuals. It's very similar to Sonic Generations, if you've played that - the same engine, I imagine - but instead of playing as Sonic the hedgehog you're playing as Shadow the edgelord, so you have Shadow's abilities, levels and story.
The platforming is designed around the Sonic franchise's classic "gotta go fast" tenet. Split-second decision making (or prior knowledge) can be used for optimizing your path through a level and routing around entire slower sections, with Shadow's performance (time) being graded at the end. Each level also contains three optional collectible keys that can be used for opening chests that can be found in the hub area (there are nearly 100 of these, sometimes behind little platforming puzzles) that contain concept art, music or background information from the franchise. Main game levels are padded with short "challenge" levels which typically require killing or collecting a certain amount of a certain thing or using a specific skill. Honestly, they're alright. The feeling of going through either kind of level and doing the platforming "correctly," chaining multiple moves and blasting through a whole bunch of enemies, is great. Levels are designed well enough; it "feels" like Sonic (I'm not a 3D Sonic fan, so I've mainly enjoyed the original 2D ones back in the day, plus Sonic Mania).
One thing I dislike about the gameplay is how often it relies on unpredictable, abrupt camera swerves and perspective changes. Sometimes Shadow is running to the side, others he's running away from the screen, then there are bits that are automated, and it may be hard to tell what's going to happen unless you've already attempted and failed a level. If you're going for the collectibles you may have to kill yourself/restart from checkpoint because the unpredictability makes you miss a split-second cue. I remember being irritated by this in Sonic Generations as well (which I played back when it was released). Also, boss levels are by far the weakest in terms of gameplay; they're riddled with cutscenes and require different unpreditable mechanics at different times (Shadow has many abilities) so the game resorts to just telling you exactly which buttons to press at all times, which makes them far too easy and pointless.
I don't want to offend any Sonic or Shadow fans but at least without the benefit of rose-colored glasses, I find the entire plot to be inane garbage I wouldn't have enjoyed even as a teenager, additionally contrived (I imagine) due to how they're trying to cram in references to other games and drop cameos for several characters I don't know who are literally pointless besides hanging out and feeding you random NPC lines. I don't care for any of it and I wish I could have skipped every cutscene (I think they're all unskippable). Just give me the levels!
Even if you are not very good at it you should be able to complete this game in less than 9 hours.
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Comment on What are your current pain points with Linux? in ~tech
Protected Link ParentI have literally not experienced a single Firefox crash since I started using CachyOS (I did on Windows though!) May I ask if you have an Nvidia GPU? And do you use any extensions?I have literally not experienced a single Firefox crash since I started using CachyOS (I did on Windows though!) May I ask if you have an Nvidia GPU? And do you use any extensions?
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Comment on What are you reading these days? in ~books
Protected Link ParentFWIW I like all the later books better. But I also didn't hate Use of Weapons. (I didn't love Player of Games as an introduction to the Culture.)FWIW I like all the later books better. But I also didn't hate Use of Weapons. (I didn't love Player of Games as an introduction to the Culture.)
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Comment on Donald Trump says the US has reached a "new" security deal with Denmark and Greenland in ~society
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Comment on Do you iron your clothes? in ~life
Protected LinkThere are three things I ideally want ironed, shirts (including polo), khakis and sheets. Ironed sheets are just a matter of extra comfort so not everyone will want to do that. I could probably...There are three things I ideally want ironed, shirts (including polo), khakis and sheets. Ironed sheets are just a matter of extra comfort so not everyone will want to do that. I could probably avoid most of the trouble if i changed to wearing only types of clothing that don't really need to be ironed, like t-shirts.
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Comment on Who gets the Steam Frame? Did Valve pick you for the first wave? in ~games
Protected Link ParentHere's how I clean my current VR equipment: Pico 4 lenses: Distilled water and microfiber cloth Index controllers, headset plastic parts and pleather gaskets: Baby wipes and paper for drying...Here's how I clean my current VR equipment:
- Pico 4 lenses: Distilled water and microfiber cloth
- Index controllers, headset plastic parts and pleather gaskets: Baby wipes and paper for drying
- Original Pico gasket (made of fabric on sponge): I use this only for sweaty activities, ie beat saber, and I completely soak it in hot water and add detergent to it, then wash extensively under running water, squeeze as much water out of it as I can, then let it dry by the window for a day.
The sponge gasket may be gross in the way that it requires washing every time but it's actually very useful that it soaks up sweat instead of it running down your face and into your eyes while you're exercising.
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Comment on Who gets the Steam Frame? Did Valve pick you for the first wave? in ~games
Protected Link ParentIf you are not interested in the Steam Frame, I would at least wait for the new Pico coming this year (Project Swan) before buying Meta.If you are not interested in the Steam Frame, I would at least wait for the new Pico coming this year (Project Swan) before buying Meta.
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Comment on Jet Lag Season 19: Japanorama | Trailer in ~hobbies
Protected Link ParentEp. 5 comments This remains less unbalanced than I feared it might become. I think the biggest risk (of unbalance) is that Tom and Adam might not have doable challenges after the scenic beauty and...Ep. 5 comments
This remains less unbalanced than I feared it might become. I think the biggest risk (of unbalance) is that Tom and Adam might not have doable challenges after the scenic beauty and might get stuck, since Sam and Ben won't be doing any challenges, which means they won't be generating any more challenges for a while. I wouldn't trust my own luck in a single draw (for the challenge in this case).
I'm really enjoying the locations being visited. The parks, castles and temples seem to be overrepresented in a good way, and we're even getting some nice vistas.
A full heart starting from The Womb! Unless you have The Wafer, then everybody does half a heart...
You're right, it's easy to keep track. The nature of the game helps, too.